A Change of Ways
by missanna444
Summary: Morris Delancey was known for helping his brother beat up anyone who got in their way. But what happens what someone new convinces him that it's okay to stand up for what is right?
1. Chapter 1

Race, Crutchie, and Specs were all out selling newspapers for the day. It was getting later by the minute, the sun starting to set. All the other newsies were back at the lodging house, but these three hadn't quite finished yet.

"C'mon Race, hurry up!" and "We's gonna go back to the lodging house without you!" echoed through the quiet alleyway they were walking through to get to a different street. Race had stopped in the middle of the alley, as if listening to something.

"Whaddaya doin', Race? Let's go!" Crutchie complained, the dark alley making him nervous.

"Hold on for a second, would ya? I think I'se hear somethin'." Race whispered. Without another word, he sprinted over to the corner where the alley opened into the street. He looked around the corner.

"Specs, get over here and tell me what you see."

"Why?"

"Because you'se got good vision with them glasses on and I want to make sure that I'm seeing what I'm seeing." Race explained. Specs sighed and looked to where the other boy was pointing.

"Well, if you see Oscar Delancey walking away from someone he just beat up, then you'd be correct." he explained what he saw. By the time he had finished his sentence, Race took off, running to help the figure lying on the ground. Specs followed quickly.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Crutchie cried, trying to catch up with them. By the time he made it over to where his two friends stood, Race was helping the person sit up.

"It's a goil… What was Oscar doin' beating up a goil?" Crutchie whispered. Race shrugged, then looked at the girl. She blinked, starting to regain consciousness. She glanced around nervously, relaxing when she saw that Oscar wasn't around. Then she saw the three boys gathered around her.

"Who are you…?" she whispered, her accent not New York, but Irish. "What happened?"

"I'm Race, the one with the glasses is Specs, an' the one with the crutch, that's Crutchie." He explained quietly.

"Okay… But what happened? I remember asking a guy the directions to the lodging house for the newsboys. Next thing I know, he was beating me up." she told them, now sitting up on her own.

"That was Oscar Delancey. He can soak folks real good. even those of us who's got a crutch." Crutchie explained.

"What's your name?" Specs asked.

"Does a name really matter? You've all got nicknames, anyways…" the girl muttered.

"The last time we didn't know someone's full name, she turned out to be Pulitzer's daughter." Specs pointed out.

"What, so you think I'm some sort of strategist trying to sabotage you?" she asked with a smirk.

"Woah, slow down Professor. We just wanna know ya name." Race replied. She looked at him.

"You just called me Professor." she said quietly.

"Well, you was talking like one."

"Well then there's my name. You all have nicknames, so now I do too. Besides, I'm going to be working with you all now, so I don't see why you can't just call me Professor like you just did." She explained thoughtfully.

"Alright. I dub thee 'Professor'. Or just 'Prof' for short. Professor can be a bit of a mouthful." Race grinned. "Now, what did you mean about working with us?"

"I need a job. The newsies are the only ones who will accept me." she stated simply. Crutchie smiled.

"Welcome to the newsies of New York, then. But uh, we might need to make you look more like a newsie." he told her. Race and Specs helped her stand up, then the four of them headed off towards the lodging house.

Meanwhile, Oscar made his way back to the newspaper building. Once he got there, he was confronted by his brother Morris.

"Why'd you have to go and beat up a girl?" Morris asked. Both boys were known for beating up the newsies and making threats towards them. Of the two of them, however, Morris was bit less vicious.

"What do you mean? You saw the fight?" Oscar asked.

"Of course I did."

"And you didn't help me? She fought back pretty hard. She could have knocked me out worse than I ended up hurting her."

"Why would I help you beat up a girl, even if you are my brother? You could have hurt her badly! And what for?"

"So you'd rather your own brother get hurt?" Oscar replied quickly.

"You can't make me feel guilty, Oscar. You know for a fact that hurting her wasn't the right thing to do. Did you even have a reason?" Morris shot back.

"Why are you so defensive of the newsies all of the sudden? I've never seen you be so kind to them, especially when you've hurt a few of them yourself." Oscar countered. His brother fell silent.

"You know I don't like hurting them… I only do it because if I don't, we'd both be on the streets again." Morris said quietly.

"Then you'd better step up your game, little brother. Because we most definitely will lose our jobs if you don't." Oscar replied before shoving his brother out of the way and leaving the room.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, as they waited for the headlines to be put up, Race showed his new friend everything she needed to know. Her abundant red hair had been cut short, much to her disappointment. Her clothes now looked bit more boyish, to hide the fact that she was actually a girl. And, of course, she now wore a newsie cap. That morning, they stood near the back of the group of newsies so she wouldn't be seen by Oscar.

"Okay, I know who Oscar is… But who's that next to him?" the girl, now known as Prof, pointed to Morris.

"Oh, him? You'se better stay away from him too. That's Morris Delancey, Oscar's younger brother." Race explained quietly, not wanting to draw the attention of either of the brothers.

"What's so bad about him? He looks almost harmless.." She whispered back.

"He can soak ya as bad as Oscar can. Believe me, I'se know." Crutchie told her quietly.

"Oh…" she said quietly, though she wasn't entirely sure she believed them.

"Believe me, Prof, you don't want to get on his bad side." Race warned her, noticing that she didn't seem to believe what he said.

A few hours later, she had the chance to determine for herself what kind of a person Morris was. She was out selling her newspapers when she bumped into him. Her papers flew from her arms, scattering across the sidewalk. She looked up, realizing who she had bumped into.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" she scrambled up and tried to collect the papers. Morris bent over to help her pick some of them up. She looked nervous as he handed them to her, unsure as to if he'd be mad at her.

"Don't apologize, it was an accident." he replied, his tone a little cold towards her. Then he saw the look on her face. "Oh, hey, its okay… I'm not going to hurt you."

"They told me you were just like Oscar. How do I know you ain't gonna hurt me like he did?" she asked carefully.

"Because I'm not like him! Wait- he hurt you?" Morris studied her more closely and realized that she was the girl his brother had beat up the day before. "I won't hurt you, I promise. And I'll make sure he doesn't hurt you either. What's your name, kid?"

"They call me Professor. And I ain't a kid."

"No, what's your real name?" He asked again. She hesitated a moment before replying.

"Elizabeth…" she said quietly.

"I'll call you Lizzie then." he smiled. She smiled back. She seemed to actually trust him, despite what the others said.

"Why are you being so nice to me anyways? You two are never nice to us." She asked curiously.

"Just because I do as my brother says, doesn't mean I agree with it."

"Yes, but you do it anyways... Why are you suddenly being so nice?" She said again, trying to get an answer out of him.

"Because if I don't do what Oscar tells me, he and I are both out on the streets." He sighed, hoping that was a good enough excuse but knowing it wasn't.

"You're talking to a newsie, Morris. We've been living on the streets our whole lives and we're not dead yet." She commented. He said nothing. She had a point.

"You could change, Morris. I think you could if you tried hard enough." She continued.

"And if Oscar gets mad at me?"

"Then stand up to him."


	3. Chapter 3

Stand up to Oscar? But how? And what did she even mean by that? These questions haunted Morris's mind as he walked back to The World where he knew Oscar was probably waiting for him. He walked through the gates, hoping he could get inside without his brother seeing him.

"Morris!" Oscar shouted. "Where have you been? I've been looking for you all day!"

Morris stopped. He didn't want to say where he'd been. "Me? Oh, I was just in the city, making sure the newsies were doing their jobs… you know, the usual."

"'The usual'? That's not 'the usual'. At least not for you. You're never out making the rounds. That's my job. Pulitzer always keeps you here to do whatever jobs he needs you to do. But when you disappeared this morning, I had no choice but to stay here and do your work. Now tell me, what exactly were you doing?" Oscar saw through his brother's lie easily. Morris was so distracted that he couldn't even come up with a good lie. So he had to tell the truth.

"I was walking around the city like I said I was."

"And what were you doing?"

"I was talking to a girl-"

"That's your excuse? That's why you didn't do your job?"

"Let me finish. I was talking to the girl you beat up yesterday. I was apologizing for what you did to her. You hurt her real bad, Oscar. She said her ribs had been bruised, and she had a big black eye." Morris explained.

"You didn't need to apologize to her."

"Well you weren't about to!"

"Of course I wasn't! I have nothing to be sorry for. If you apologize, it won't teach her a lesson."

"And what lesson is that?"

"Not to mess with me, which you clearly haven't learned yet." Oscar growled.

"You're not the boss of everyone, Oscar."

"No, but I am the boss of you. And if I ever see you being nice to those newsies again, especially the girl, you'll be in big trouble." Oscar threatened before going inside the building. Morris sighed. Was that as far as standing up to his brother would get him?

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was back at the lodging house. She sat on one of the top bunks, her feet hanging off the side of the bed.

"Hey, get ya feet out of my space! They smell terrible!" Race grumbled from the bottom bunk.

"Oh come on, it's not as if your feet are any better!" Elizabeth shot back.

"If that's your logic, Professor, youse way off! At least I keep my shoes on."

"And that's why my feet smell better. They don't sit fermenting in my shoes all the time." She pointed out.

"Fermenting?"

"Rotting. Disintegrating. Getting really smelly."

"Oh. That makes sense…. Wait a minute! My feet ain't rotting!" Race protested.

"You sure about that?" She asked.

"No…"

"See? I'm right." She laughed. Race rolled his eyes.

"Anyways… Where were you all day? I thought you were going to be selling papes with Crutchie today. He said he only saw you for about ten minutes and then you were gone."

"I just… had a different idea for a selling route and I wanted to try it out. That's all." she shrugged. She wasn't sure she should tell her friends about her encounter with Morris. Would it be worth convincing them that Morris was actually nice?

"You could've at least told Crutchie where you were going, you didn't have to sneak off. He thought you'd been kidnapped by the Delancey brothers or something!"

"Kidnapped? That's ridiculous."

"That's what we told him! But then no one could find you and we started to believe him…"

"Oh. Sorry Race, I guess I just got too excited about the new route I found." Elizabeth apologized quickly.

"It's okay, just something next time. We're supposed to look out for each other."

"I know…"

"Morris and Oscar ain't been bothering you today, have they?"

"No… of course not. Why do you ask?"

"They like to pick on people more than once, that's all." Race explained.

"I see. I'll keep that in mind." Elizabeth murmured as she fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, Morris saw Elizabeth again. Actually, he saw her at the distribution center buying newspapers. They managed to share a glance, a quick smile, but no more than that. Oscar saw Morris's quick smile and turned to him.

"What are you smiling about?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh… A joke that kid Race said. It was kinda funny…" Morris replied, thinking on his feet.

"Race left ten minutes ago. It took you that long to get the joke? Besides, since when do we laugh at the street rat's jokes? We don't. Be careful, Morris. You're going soft."

Neither of them spoke again until all the newsies had left.

"Alright, little brother. I've got a job for you. Maybe you can prove that you're not so weak after all." Oscar decided.

Morris began to protest. "If you're going to make me soak one of those boys-"

"That's exactly what I want you to do. They're causing trouble, Morris. we can't let them get away with it."

Morris rolled his eyes. "And which one am I supposed to bust up this time?"

"The one who always makes jokes."

"Race? But he's Elizabeth's best friend!" Morris said quickly.

"Who's Elizabeth?" Oscar was immediately suspicious.

"Just a girl."

"And she's friends with them newsies? Morris, if you tell me she's that girl I beat up a few days ago..."

"I didn't say that." Morris replied quickly. "I just said that he's a friend of a friend, so I can't beat him up."

"If you don't do this, Morris, we'll both be in big trouble. We'll be on the streets like I said. And even worse, we'll be the ones getting beat up every day." Oscar reminded him. At this point, Morris didn't mind being out on the streets. He saw how the newsies managed every day. But being the ones getting hurt every day? Knowing Oscar, they wouldn't just get hurt by random guys in the streets. There would be people looking for them. As much as he didn't want to hurt Race, he didn't want to get hurt either. But he couldn't just not tell Elizabeth what was going to happen. He had to warn her. And with that, he ran to find her.

Elizabeth was in her usual selling spot, calling out the headlines to every passerby.

"Lizzie!" A familiar voice called. She turned to see Morris behind her. Her eyes brightened as she saw him and ran towards him.

 _Oh crap._ Morris thought to himself. How could he tell her bad news when she looked so happy? Not to mention that she was actually happy to see him. He didn't want to ruin that…

"Heya, Morris!" Elizabeth giggled. He smiled back at her.

"Hey! Listen, I wanted to talk to you-" he was cut off when she continued talking.

"Wait! I want to tell you what happened this morning while I was sellin' papes!" She sounded so eager. Morris really couldn't say no. Besides, it didn't matter if it was a few seconds before he could tell her.

"So tell me!" he said, laughing brightly.

"So I was sellin' papes, right? Callin' out headlines and such, as usual. Anyways, I remembered from the other newsies that if you fake being sick, you sell faster! So that's what I did. I pretended I had a terrible cough and that the money I raised would be for me to see a doctor." She told him.

"And did it work?" Morris asked, starting to focus more on her story than his task at hand.

'Of course it did! I've sold almost all my papes and it's not even noon yet!" Elizabeth grinned.

"That's amazing, Lizzie! I'm glad you did so well today." Morris smiled. Elizabeth nodded and surprised him with a quick hug.

"Sorry…" she said, backing up. "I'm just really happy!"

"Don't apologize… I don't mind hugs." He chuckled softly.

"Good!" She grinned and hugged him again. She wasn't normally like this, but she felt like she was finally starting to figure out how to succeed at being a newsie. Well, in every way except for the fact that she talked to Morris. But who knows, maybe she could find a way for the others to be nice to him too.

"Listen, why don't we go and get some food or something after you finish selling papers today? In honor of you doing so well, I guess." Morris suggested. Maybe if she'd calmed down by then, he'd be able tell her about the horrible task Oscar was making him do.

"I'd love to! As long as nobody finds out, of course. I'm still not supposed to be friends with you." She reminded him. Okay, maybe it would be a bit harder than he thought to tell her.


	5. Chapter 5

Elizabeth spent the rest of the day and part of the next day quite happy. She had spent most of the afternoon with Morris and no one had found out… yet. Of course, the two were still only friends, but the thought of being with him made her giddy with happiness. And the others were starting to notice.

"Somethin' has ya way too happy. You'se never this happy. _No one_ is this happy." Crutchie commented one morning.

" _You're_ this happy..." Elizabeth replied.

"Don't change the subject. What's got ya all excited?" He asked.

"Well..." She hesitated. "I met a guy..."

"A guy? That's great!" Crutchie grinned. Before Elizabeth could respond, Specs came running into the room.

"Youse guys gotta help me!" He said quickly.

"What's wrong?" She replied, standing up.

"It's Race! He's hurt!" Specs said, quickly running out the door. Elizabeth helped Crutchie stand up, then the two of them quickly followed Specs outside. He led them to an alleyway a few blocks away. Sure enough, they found Race on the ground, a tall young man standing over him.

"Get outta here, Delancey!" Specs yelled to he who was standing there. The young man looked up and Elizabeth saw who it was. Morris. He looked horribly guilty and frightened. But Elizabeth didn't see that. All she saw was the realization that Morris had hurt her best friend.

"Why, Morris?" She asked, already running over to see if Race was okay. She glared up at Morris. "You said you'd changed. You said you'd stop doing this."

"Lizzie, I-" He said quickly.

"Don't call me Lizzie."

"Fine. Elizabeth. I was forced into this! I didn't want to do it!" He protested.

"But you still did, Morris! That's my point. Even if you didn't want to, you still did it. You still hurt my friend. I can't forgive you for that!"

"You don't understand! I had to!"

"No! I don't understand. Because you didn't have to. What did they say to convince you that this was okay?" Elizabeth motioned Specs over as she spoke. The older boy helped lift up their friend. Elizabeth stood up, turning to Morris again.

"I can't believe you'd do this. You promised you'd change. You said you were different." She said, her voice tight as if she was about to cry.

"You can't just expect me to change overnight." Morris said quietly. He had a point, and she knew it.

"You're right. I should have realized that. You can't change people, even if you want to. I can't change you. You're the same horrible person they said you were." She said before following Specs and running off towards the lodging house.

"Elizabeth! Wait!" Morris yelled, starting to follow her. But then he stopped. Maybe she was right. Maybe he was a horrible person. Was there a way he could possibly prove her wrong? He sighed and ran to find Oscar.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth, Specs, and Crutchie were back at the lodging house. They had placed Race on his bunk bed and Elizabeth was cleaning his cuts and scrapes. No one spoke for a while. Race was okay now, but they let him sleep. Specs left a while later, to sell Race's leftover papers. It was just Elizabeth and Crutchie, sitting in silence. Finally, Crutchie spoke, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Is ya name really Elizabeth?" He asked. She laughed slightly in response.

"Yeah... I don't like it much though."

"Why not? It's a pretty name."

"I'm a newsie. My name isn't supposed to be pretty." She pointed out. Crutchie nodded. Then he remembered something else he had heard.

"When you were talking to Morris... What did you mean, when you said that he had promised to change?" He asked hesitantly.

"Remember that guy I told you about earlier. It was Morris." She replied. Before Crutchie could respond, she continued. "I ran into him while I was selling papes one morning. We started talking and we even spent some afternoons together after I was done selling." She explained.

"Wow. Were you two ever... more than friends?"

"No. We weren't. I suppose it's good we didn't get to that..."

"But you liked him, didn't you?" Crutchie said. Elizabeth looked at him.

"How did you know?"

"When you were talking about him, it sounded like he was real important to you." He shrugged.

"Well, it doesn't matter now, not after what he did. I can't believe I ever fell for him." She sighed.

"I'm sorry... He shouldn't have betrayed you like that." Crutchie said. She smiled at him.

"Thank you."

"For?"

"Not getting mad that I liked Morris."

"Why should I get mad? You saw a different side of him than any of us are used to." He smiled back.

Elizabeth nodded. She'd figure things out. She was confused about her feelings right now, but she knew she'd figure it out.


	6. Chapter 6

It had been a week since Morris had beat up Race. Race was healing fast and back to selling already. Yet, everyone seemed more concerned about Elizabeth. She had gone into some sort of 'selling slump', as Crutchie called it, and was selling papers a lot worse than usual. To make matters worse, she made Specs by the papers for her every morning because she could barely even be near Morris.

It wasn't going well for Morris, either. Even Pulitzer could tell that the boy's work was faltering. Oscar was the most concerned, naturally, concerned for their jobs and for his brother's state of being. At this point, Morris was hardly sleeping at night. Oscar decided it was time to step in.

"Morris, it's 1:45 in the morning. What are you doing up? We've got a long day tomorrow."

"You've got a long day tomorrow. I already told Pulitzer I was taking the day off."

"And he didn't fire you? I'm impressed." Oscar said, raising his eyebrows. Morris looked over at him.

"He did, actually. He fired me, Oscar. But I don't care. Part of me hoped he would." He said. Oscar stared at him, a mix of shock and anger in his eyes.

"But-! Morris! Now I'm the only one who's got a job. I'm the only one making enough money for us to live off of. What's gotten into you lately? First, you tried to stop me from making you beat up that newsie, and now this? What's going on?"

"That girl, the new one… she was right. I need to change. It's not right, what I've been doing all these years and I have to make it right. She may never forgive me for what I've done, but I have to set things right. I just have to. You wouldn't understand." Morris said, standing up.

"Morris…" Oscar said, trying to stop his brother from leaving the room.

"No, Oscar. I can't do this anymore. I can't beat them up all the time like you want me to, like we've been told to." Morris said, pushing past him. He left the room and went outside, with one destination in mind. The lodging house. He was aware, of course, that it was the middle of the night. But it didn't matter, he had to talk to Elizabeth and apologize.

 **I'm sorry it's so short, I'm just trying to get back into the story! I'll have something more up soon!**


End file.
